Chaos of the Heart
by BunBunBabe
Summary: Set in season 2 before War of the Worlds: Kevin, Gwen and Ben are looking into the DN Aliens after rescuing their friend Cooper from the aliens. When they split up to search something goes very wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Fallen**

Kevin growled softly as they drove down the highway, it was a sweltering hot day and his air conditioner had just stopped working. The windows were open though it wasn't doing much good since the humid air was making it hard to cool off. "Gwen we've been driving forever and it's too hot to fight aliens" Kevin whined as he let his head fall back against the headrest. "Kevin we've been driving for only ten minutes and besides we're going to be there soon anyway." Gwen said resting her chin in her hand as she looked out of the window. Ben sighed from the back seat of the car and fanned himself with his hand. "We need to get this air conditioning fixed I'm starting to feel like that bean curd my mom made last week." Ben said looking out the windshield as the road came at them." I spy with my little eye…something that is tan" Ben said as he sighed loudly.

"Tumbleweed" Gwen said as she watched large rocks fly by on the side of the road. Gwen sighed the humid air was starting to lull her into a hazy sleep. Kevin looked over at the red head and smiled softly as Gwen slept. "You know Kevin you should keep your eyes on the road, I would like to make it to my sixteenth birthday" Ben said leaning his head back against the head rest. "If you want to live to your next birthday I can stop this car and you can fly home… wait you can turn into Big Chill. So why the heck, are we suffering?" Kevin asked looking out the windshield.

Ben lifted his head "huh… I never thought of it until now, but I'm too tired right now to change into Big Chill" Ben mumbled as the warm humid air came through the open windows. His eyes slowly began to close as he too started to fall under the spell of the humid hazy air. It was only a matter of seconds before Ben too was asleep in the back seat. Kevin sighed he was glad that Ben was asleep and quiet, but having Gwen asleep was hard on him he enjoyed her company and liked talking to her. He was tempted to wake her up but watching her sleep was rare, Gwen was like a combination of things that Kevin couldn't describe, she was beautiful and smart but also strong and a great fighter. He knew that Gwen was a good girl and could do better than him, he had done time in the Null Void and he was a former criminal. Kevin sighed as they continued to drive down the highway. The barren desert stretched all around them, it reminded Kevin of a horror movie he had seen. If this was a movie then the monster or zombie would attack the car soon. Just as the thought flittered through Kevin's mind a large rock fell from one of the cliffs high above them and landed just a few feet in front of the car. Kevin slammed on the breaks and the car came to a dead halt.

Ben and Gwen were jolted awake by the car's sudden deceleration from seventy miles an hour to zero. Gwen looked around for any aliens and saw they were all alone in the small canyon. She unhooked her seatbelt and got out of the car. She held her hand out and lifted the rock in the air with her mana and moved it to the side of the road and placed it safely in front of a small outcropping of rocks. When she got back in the car she looked at Kevin. "All clear now, and don't worry there is no damage to your car." She said fastening her seatbelt once more. Kevin smirked and gunned the engine again and took off down the highway once again. After another twenty minutes they slowed down and pulled off the road and headed up a small hill till they were overlooking Los Soledad military base, it was abandoned by humans but the DN Aliens had taken up residence quite recently. It had been a week since the three were there last saving a friend of theirs named Cooper.

Kevin pressed a button and a screen came up over the windshield that uncovered the truth under the cloaking device. Ben whistled a bit "Where did you get the screen?" he asked leaning forward and looking at Kevin. "I got it from Cooper" he said with a smirk "Did you get it in the sense that you stole it or did he actually give it to you?" Gwen asked with a stern look on her face. Kevin looked away "I may have borrowed it from his basement when I was dropping him off at home" he said rubbing the back of his head a bit." When we're finished here you're going to return everything you 'borrowed' from him." Gwen said turning her head away from Kevin.

"Hey we really needed it and Cooper wasn't really using it." He said digging himself into a deeper grave. Gwen gave a loud huff and climbed out of the car. Ben chuckled from the back seat of the car "Nice going Kevin, now you'll never get her to go on a date with you" the omnitrix user said as he put his feet up on the seat. Kevin looked at Ben in the rearview mirror "Either you take your feet off the seat or you're going to be learning how to fly without using the omnitrix." Kevin said getting out of the car and pushing his seat forward. Right away Ben put his feet down and scrambled out of the car past Kevin and over to his cousin. "Can you stop acting like children for one minute so we can figure out our plan of attack" Gwen said her hands were resting on her hips. "He started it" Kevin said pointing at Ben. Raising her hand immediately Gwen looked at both boys "I don't want to hear it, both of you get along right now or you can go in there without me and try to survive the hoards of DN Aliens." She said watching both of them go quiet. "Good now can we go, so hurry up or I'm leaving you here" she added as she created steps out of mana, Gwen started down the steps she could hear Kevin and Ben following close behind. Soon all three of them were standing by an opening in the wall that surrounded the military base.

As the three teens passed through the invisible cloak that hid the real Los Soledad they sighed in relief at the cold snowy weather. Kevin moved in front of the others and led them into a small building that was empty. "All right we've got to get to the other side of the base, we're going to split up at one point Ben you're going to take the air as Big Chill and Gwen you take the alleyways and we'll meet at the old library hopefully we'll be able to get there quickly before one of us is spotted." Kevin said as they waited a moment for a small pod of DN Aliens to pass by the door before taking off. Ben hung back and dialed Big Chill and slammed the Omnitrix down and became intangible before flying through the roof and up into the air. Gwen watched Kevin take off down another side street and turn a corner. She looked around the edge of the building and saw it was clear. Ducking behind the building Gwen kept close to the buildings, she had gone behind all the buildings close to the outer wall so there was little DN Alien activity where she was. It was a quick trip from the abandoned building to the old library. Gwen hid behind a dumpster as a DN Alien patrolled past her. She sighed softly as it disappeared around the corner of the other building.

Ben was flying around and waited for the right moment to land, when he spotted Gwen behind the dumpster he waited till the area was clear before he landed silently beside his cousin. "Gwen" he hissed from behind her making her jump nearly a foot in the air. "Benjamin Tennyson, don't you ever do that again or I swear I'll let it slip to Kevin that you wet the bed when you were thirteen" she said to thin air since Ben was still intangible as Big Chill. "You wouldn't dare tell him that" he said becoming tangible and turning back into his fifteen year old self.

"Speaking of Kevin shouldn't he have been here by now?" Ben asked as he looked around for any sign of Kevin. Even though he knew the older teen could take care of himself he was still alone and probably fighting a huge group of DN Aliens. "No we're going to wait here for Kevin, he'll be here soon and then we're going to look around inside." She said keeping her voice down.

Both cousins waited patiently for an hour "Now we've been waiting for over sixty minutes and Kevin… is there" Ben said getting up from where he was crouching. Ben walked over to Kevin and looked at him "You were making us worry on purpose haven't you?" he asked. The older teen looked at the cousins. "I got tied up, it seems the way I chose had more than a few dozen DNAliens" he said shrugging his shoulders. Gwen looked at Kevin "Maybe we should leave before they find us" she said pushing some of her long hair behind her ear. "We've come this far and we need to finish what we started" Kevin said. "Kevin you were gone for an hour and now you want to stay, they know we're here we really should…"Gwen was cut off as the wall behind her exploded outward as a dozen or more DN Aliens and a single Highbreed came out of the old library. Gwen instinctively put up a barrier as the attack started. Soon balls of mana and laser beams filled the air. Ben started to dial the omnitrix but it was hard to avoid the laser blasts that were hitting the mana shield. Finally he smirked as he selected Swampfire. As soon as he hit the faceplate he began to change.

"Awesome time to roast up some DN Aliens" he said as he created two balls of fire in his hands and threw them at the approaching aliens. Soon the small fry DN Aliens ran off leaving Ben, Gwen and Kevin to face the single Highbreed alone. "Now I think it's time we left" Kevin said backing away from the others slowly, Gwen was hot on his heels as was Swampfire. The teens arrived at the base of the cliff. "Hurry up' Gwen called as she started to run up the mana stairs till they reached the top of the cliff. Kevin pulled his keys out of his pocket and climbed into the driver's seat. Ben changed back and clambered into the back seat just as Gwen climbed in behind him. As the sports car drove off leaving a cloud of dust behind Gwen kept an eye on the passenger side mirror for any signs that they were being followed. When they far enough away she relaxed and broke the silence. "Guys we need to come up with another plan and get back in there soon." Gwen remarked looking over at Kevin and Ben.

When they arrived back in Bellwood Kevin drove to his place first and pulled into the garage and killed the engine before closing the garage door. Ben climbed out of the back seat and made his way into the house to find a way to cool off. Gwen opened the passenger door and just sat there as Kevin popped the hood up and began to look around. "Kevin, is everything all right? You seem off for some reason" she said getting out of the car and going over to Kevin.

"I'm fine I'm just a little tired is all from the heat and the fighting, when we go back we should go at night when it's cooler." He said leaning over the front of the car and reaching his arm beside the engine where the air conditioner hose was. Gwen nodded her head and went into the house where she felt a cool draft hit her in the face. The walls of the living room were covered with ice. "Ben we have to talk, Kevin's acting weird, well weirder than normal. He never complains that he's tired and just now he admitted that he came home because he was tired." Gwen said looking at her cousin as he relaxed on the couch. Ben chuckled from his spot on the couch. "I'm serious Ben, stop goofing around" she said putting her hands on her hips.

Kevin walked into the living room and came up to where his friends were "I like what you've done with the place. It's much more comfortable in here now." He said taking a seat on the only other chair in the room. "Hey Kevin, you have to hear this, Gwen's got some crazy theory that you're not in your right mind" Ben said laughing as Kevin joined in with him. Gwen growled loudly "I don't believe you two" she said storming out of the room and going outside. "Such a waste of my time" she said to herself as she walked off down the sidewalk toward her home. Gwen fanned herself as she walked. By the time she made it a couple blocks she was red in the face, when she stopped for a rest she saw Kevin's car pull up to the curb next to her.

"Gwen get in the car it's too hot to be walking home" Kevin called from inside the car. Gwen moved over and put her hand on the door handle. "You're right it's too hot out to walk all the way home" she said climbing into the car. The older teen was still leaning a bit close. "I was worried that the heat was going to get to you" Kevin said softly as he looked at Gwen for a moment longer before he sat up straight and started to drive off, the sky above them was starting to darken and thunder echoed through the air. When Kevin finally pulled up to the curb in front of Gwen's house her turned the key off and adjusted himself in his seat a bit.

The older teen looked over at the red head beside him. Reaching his hand forward his brushed his fingertips against Gwen's cheek. "You're very beautiful Gwen" he whispered leaning in and kissing her. Gwen was in shock she didn't know what to do at first. After a moment Gwen pulled away and sat in silence she could feel herself blushing. "Wow Kevin, that was sudden, I… I should get inside and rest for tonight" she said softly trying to regain her normal self. Kevin smirked "I'll walk you to the door" he said getting out of the car and going around the front. He pulled open the passenger door so quickly that Gwen hadn't noticed till she was falling backwards; Kevin grabbed her before she hit the ground and pulled her to her feet after a moment. "Sorry, I hope you're not hurt" the older teen said softly as he led the girl next to him up the front path and to her front door.

Just as Gwen reached into her pocket a loud rumble of thunder filled the air, it was so loud that the windows. "Let's get inside" she said unlocking the door. While she was preoccupied with the door Kevin looked up at the dark clouds that had formed. "I should get back home, but I'll be back later to pick you up Gwen" he said leaning in and catching her in such a kiss that she felt her legs go weak. When Kevin let her go Gwen used the door handle to hold herself up as she watched the boy run down the front walk and get into his car.

When the first lightning bolt shot through the air Gwen thought she saw something in Kevin's car but it was too hard to see as the rain came pouring down in buckets. The stone path and the streets started to steam as the cool rain splattered on the hard surface.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Tells**

Gwen was suspicion was growing, Kevin never kissed her before that day and he had been gentler around her like she was made of glass. Of course he treated her with kindness but it was more pronounced like he was acting on emotions he never knew he had. Going up to her room and lying down on her bed as she listened to the storm outside, she sighed loudly "hopefully it will be cooler later tonight." The heavy thunder continued to shake the house. The hot white lightning filled the sky and lit the bedroom.

The rain splattered against the window with a driving force. Gwen groaned at the noise, she just wanted to relax in peace for a little while before she went and risked her life once again. Creating a mana bubble around her bed the roaring thunder was muffled greatly. Gwen sighed and watched the lightning in the sky. She had zoned out for a while when her cell phone rang; lowering her shield she grabbed the phone from her bedside table and saw it was text message from Ben telling her that they were there. Gwen looked at her clock and nearly jumped it was already seven, two hours had passed. Running down the stairs Gwen grabbed her coat and left a note saying she was going out with Ben and Kevin and would be back later before she tore out of the house like a wind storm. The sun was lower in the sky but nowhere near setting yet. The air was cooler as steam still rose off the street.

Ben was leaning against the passenger door as his cousin ran up to him "Nice to see you're still with us Gwen." Ben said as he got into the back seat just as Gwen pushed the seat back up and climbed in after him. Kevin turned the key and the engine roared to life. Gwen sat quietly as they drove through Bellwood, as they reached the edge of town she looked at Kevin.

"Kevin what really happened during that hour you were separated from me and Ben?" Gwen asked the boy next to her as he drove. "I told you, I was fighting the DN Aliens and then I came to find you and Ben" he said defensively as he pushed down on the accelerator. "If that's true then why did you basically stroll up to us? And why weren't you out of breath either?" she asked looking for any hints that Kevin was lying to her. "It wasn't a big deal, what's with all the questions anyway Gwen?" Kevin asked keeping his eyes on the road. "Gwen, are you upset that I kissed you?" Kevin asked looking away from the road and over at the girl beside him.

Ben sat up quickly and put his right hand on Gwen's right shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Kevin you promised I could watch you two when kissed" Ben whined in a high pitched voice. The older teen chuckled "Sorry, I guess I forgot." Kevin chuckled as he drove. Gwen kept her mouth shut, she knew Ben would never want to watch her kiss anyone. Ben moved his hand off her shoulder and sank back into the back seat. "Well you're forgiven, at least its cooler out tonight" he said smirking. Ben leaned his head back and looked at the roof of the car.

The car pulled into a small hidden area out of sight. Kevin climbed out of the car to look around. "Ben did Kevin really promise you that you could watch us kiss?" She asked angrily. Ben smirked "Gwen, Kevin never promised me anything like that, when he was dropping you off at home I snooped around his house and I agree with you this isn't Kevin. For one his bedroom was spotless. So I agree with you now. There is something seriously wrong with him." Ben said pushing the driver's seat forward and climbing out of the car.

Gwen grabbed Ben by the arm and pulled him back into the car "Be careful and don't let him know that we know he's not the real Kevin" she whispered before letting her cousin go and watching him get out of the car carefully. Climbing out of the car as well Gwen looked around her surroundings and saw Kevin standing with his back towards her. She kept her guard up as she walked towards him. Gwen reached up her hand, before her fingertips even brushed his broad should Kevin turned around and looked down at her. "We should get in there before they spot us." He said walking off and heading for a semi-large hole in the wall. Gwen followed at a distance with Ben.

"Keep your guard up" Ben whispered as he walked through the hole. Ben looked around the cold air circled around him. As Ben took another step the snow on the ground crunched under his foot. As soon as his left foot crushed a small pile of snow he heard a whistling sound then everything went dark. Gwen spun around and ran over to her cousin as he lay sprawled out on the ground unconscious. "Ben wake up, Kevin…" Gwen turned around to look for her friend and hoped that he was standing beside her. When she looked over her shoulder Kevin was gone. "Kevin?" she asked turning her head in all directions all she could see was a wall of DN Aliens closing in on her and her cousin. "Ben, wake up!" Gwen yelled at the top of her lungs as she smacked him hard in the face, it was a lost cause Ben was out cold for this fight.

As she created two mana orbs in her hands Gwen knew she had to protect Ben until he woke up or Kevin came back to help them. Gwen dispersed one mana ball and grabbed Ben by the wrist and pulled him closer as the DN Aliens closed in. "I could use some help" Gwen said to herself. Just as she threw a mana orb at the aliens that were the closest to the cousins three DN Aliens came at her from behind. Gwen barely had enough time to throw up a shield. She and Ben were safe for now. The snow under her legs were she was kneeling was soaking into her stockings and making her shiver. " Sorry about this again Ben" she whispered giving him another smack in the face this time the sound was so loud she was sure that every alien on the military base heard it.

Turning her head to look behind her Gwen realized her shield was down, a large DN Alien hand grabbed her around the throat and threw her through the air and into the back of what she thought might have once been an armored truck for a bank. A few seconds later an unconscious Ben flew in next to her and landed with a loud thud. The doors slammed shut and locked sending the Tennyson cousins into pitch black darkness.

Gwen sat up and created a small mana ball for light, the truck was pretty large there were parts of it that were still cloaked in an eerie darkness that her mana couldn't penetrate through. The truck lurched forward and began to move at a quick speed. After two minutes the truck came to an abrupt stop sending Ben and Gwen around the back of the truck like a pair of rag dolls. The back doors to the truck were ripped opened causing light to come flooding in. The half Anodite was temporarily blinded at the bright light that poured into the truck.

A Highbreed was ordering a large group of DN Aliens out of the way as one of the group split off and climbed into the truck and grabbed Gwen and Ben by the back of their shirts and carried them out of the truck. Gwen noticed that Ben was starting to come to; before she had a chance to speak she was handed off to another alien and brought to a small room that looked to be a makeshift cell of some kind. Both teens were chained to the walls of their cells.

Gwen knew that the aliens were locking them up to keep them from getting in their way and stopping their plans; the aliens checked the room and grabbed a few large crates before leaving them her and locking the door. Gwen heard another door slam shut in the hall and then another door slam shut that echoed through the air.

"Well if it isn't the lovely Gwendolyn Tennyson and her cousin Benjamin, how nice to see you both again." A voice from another dark cell said. Gwen looked up she knew the voice very well. The voice was coming from the air vent that ran through all three rooms. Gwen looked up at the vent she wanted to ignore the voice. "How did you get here I thought you were in the Null Void?" Gwen asked in a semi loud voice so the other occupant could hear her.

"Ask your boyfriend he's the one that pulled me out of there and locked me up like a wild animal. He's got something wrong with him." The voice said chuckling "Lovely Gwen, it seems that the one of us you chose was the wrong one" he said laughing. Soon a small groan came from the other cell. " Oh my head" Ben said as he woke up, it was after a few moments that he realized that he was chained close to the wall so he couldn't reach the omnitrix.

Ben struggled against the cuffs and yelled. "Gwen can you hear me?" Ben yelled his voice echoed through air vent. "Ben calm down, we're going to get out of here" she said taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated hard on her mana and opened her eyes and sent the mana to the cuffs and crushed them and pulled them off the walls with ease. Gwen landed lightly on her feet lightly. As she walked around the room she realized that her mana might not break the door down.

"Um guys we might have a problem, I don't think my mana is strong enough to break this door down" the young Anodite said trying to figure another way out. A low chuckle came from the air vent. "If you can channel your mana through the air vent then you can unlock one of us and we may be able to break the doors down." One voice said. There was a few seconds of silence before Ben spoke. "What the hell is he doing here?" Ben yelled from the other cell. Gwen ignored her cousin for a moment as she sent her mana into the air vent above her and started to snake it around the air vent. "A little lower and to the left and grip the cuffs and pull" Gwen heard the cuffs hit the ground. When she dispersed her mana she heard a dull crash from outside her cell, just as she turned to the door it was pulled open and a familiar young man stood there.

The man moved away from the door and unlocked Ben's door "Well it's nice to see you again Benjamin, I know what you're thinking, what am I doing out of the Null Void and how fast can you get me back in there before I steal your energy for myself" Michael Morningstar said unhooking the cuffs that held Ben to the wall. "Let's just get Gwen out of her cell and find Kevin." He said shoving past his enemy. Michael chuckled under his metal mask it echoed making Ben shiver a bit

"Speaking of Levin he's the one that locked me up here two weeks ago." The teen said going over to the last cell and unlocking the door. "Gwen you get lovelier every time I see you." Michael said walking over to Gwen and taking her hand and helping her out of the cell. Gwen pulled her hand away and wiped it off on her skirt. "Well thanks for breaking us out but we don't need your help." She said coolly as she walked past Michael.

Ben smirked and followed his cousin. "I'm sure that you understand that trusting you is hazardous to our health" Ben called to the teen behind him. "Yes, you two keep thinking that I'm the bad guy, well think about it. How do you think I got locked in that cell in the first place?" he asked as kept a few steps behind the cousins.

Michael chuckled "You two just don't want to accept that Kevin is the bad guy again and that he's working with those alien creatures." The former blonde said. Gwen stopped and turned around "Kevin isn't working with them by choice, he's being controlled I just know it." She said looking away and heading for the main door.

"Wait, Gwen let me go first and I'll take care of any guards we may have and then you can get Kevin back to normal if he is being controlled that is." He said dialing the omnitrix and slamming the face plate down and changes into Swampfire. "Swampfire" the swamp alien said as he pulled the door open to reveal the few guards standing with weapons in hand.

Ben laughed "You know this is going to be way too easy you know that" Swampfire said throwing a fireball at the few DN Aliens that were running at him. When the room was cleared he created a few fireballs and began to juggle them. "It's all in the wrists" the large alien said as he put the fireballs out as Gwen and Darkstar came into the main room. "Ben stop showing off and lets hurry up before they find out we're gone." Gwen said taking the lead. A flash of green light told her that Ben had changed back into his human form.

When they got outside the lack of DN Aliens running around seemed odd, the base looked and even gave off the feeling of being completely empty. Keeping out of sight as much as possible the three teens made their way to the library and climbed in through a broken back window on the second floor. Ben looked around the stacks and crouched down just in case something walked by.

As they neared the railing Ben stuck his head through the bars and looked down. "Hey… Gwen… you might want to come see this" Ben whispered as his cousin joined him by the railing. Below them on the first floor the room looked like a cross between a giant freezer and a nest. That's when it hit Ben that they were right above a new hatchery for the xenocytes that turned humans into DN Aliens.

Gwen started to gasp that's when she felt a gloved hand cover her mouth and a presence move up close behind her. "You need to stay quiet or we're going to end up just like Levin down there" he said just as Kevin walked into the giant hatchery and reached up to his face and pulled the ID mask off that hid his DN Alien form. Ben would have jumped back from the shock but his head was stuck in the banister railings. "I swear you are utterly worthless, I don't know how Levin ever put up with you Benjamin" Darkstar said letting his fingers wander around Gwen's neck. The former blonde smirked under his mask at the shiver that flew through Gwen's body.

"Get off me" she hissed trying to elbow the other boy in the ribs, the outfit he wore seemed to be padded slightly so her attack had little effect. Michael chuckled lightly "What if I told you two I know how to get your friend back to normal, I'll tell you in a trade. The information for your freedom lovely Gwen" the teen said in such a low voice that the cousins had to strain their ears to hear him correctly.

Gwen had to think for a moment, she knew if she said no then Kevin would be stuck as a DN Alien and she couldn't do that to him no matter what. Ben pulled his head back from the in between the railings and looked at his cousin. "Gwen don't do…" he was cut off by her hand "I'll do it…Kevin would do the same for me if I needed help" she said locking eyes with the masked teen. Michael nodded his head "It's done then, I'll tell you how to turn that uncultured fool back into his real self" he said ignoring the glares from the girl in front of him.

Ben looked at the masked teen "Well how do we change him back?" he asked moving away from the railing and heading back into the stacks with the other two teens. Michael stood up and offered his hand to Gwen. "That is quite easy; all you have to do is destroy the xenocytes on his face. Though I have to say it is an improvement" he said grabbing Gwen's hand when she took too long and pulled her to her feet and into his arms.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Magnetic **

"That doesn't help us, tell us what we have to do" Gwen said trying to push herself out of Darkstar's arms with no success, he had her in a very tight hug that was starting to hurt. "Ah, I promised I would tell you what to do not how to do it…you didn't specify that part so that's something that you have to figure out on your own." he said tightening his grip slightly. "We should get out of here before we're all your worrying brings those aliens to us." He said letting Gwen out of his arms to only grab her by the arm and pull her toward the window.

Ben looked back toward the railing. He followed behind his cousin and rival and kept his eyes opened to make sure that they weren't being followed. "Gwen, I'm going to get Kevin back I promise and we'll come find you and get you back." He said smirking and taking a step backwards toward the railing as he dialed the faceplate till the holographic silhouette of the Arachnichimp aptly named Spidermonkey, slamming the faceplate down he turned into the large blue monkey. Scaling up the side of the wall he made his way back toward the hatchery.

Gwen looked back one more time before she was pushed to the window. She closed her eyes for a moment and created the mana stairs. Time seemed to move slowly a second seemed like an hour as Michael and Gwen walked down the stairs to the ground below. When her feet stuck solid earth, everything seemed to be moving at the same time once again.

"I may have misled you a bit but in all fairness you agreed to my terms before thinking it over." He whispered putting his arm around Gwen's waist. The young Anodite struggled and pulled away putting a foot of space in between them.

Michael chuckled "If you even think of running away lovely Gwen I'll be forced to hurt you and I would hate to hurt something so beautiful. On the other hand if you do decide to run you should know that I will drain the energy of every living thing I come across on this base and that includes your cousin and Levin" He said turning walking toward her and forcing Gwen to walk backwards into a wall. Gwen looked down at the cold ground below her feet. She was in deep thought for a moment before she smirked and looked up at Darkstar." Sorry but I don't take threats well" she said creating a mana orb and threw it at the boy hitting his square in the chest.

The armored teen went flying into a stack of empty wooden crates each one smashing under his body weight. By the time he freed himself from the broken crates Gwen had made it a good distance running from the young man. "How disappointing" he mumbled to himself as he shot deep black beam of energy at Gwen. She crumpled to the ground her hair draped around her like a veil.

Michael chuckled coldly as he strolled over to the red head he looked down at her. "That's something new I've been working on, a much stronger beam of energy that knocks a person out with a single hit." He said to himself as he lifted Gwen into his arms. "It's so effective, so I must apologize if it hurt you in any way since it was not my intention to hurt you" he said calmly as he walked out of the hidden base. The semi cool night air barely affected him under all his protection. Walking away from the base something caught his eye. He laughed when he saw Kevin's car sitting behind the rocks.

Walking over to the green and black striped sports car Michael put Gwen down gently on the ground before checking the doors he found that the door were still unlocked. After a moment of tinkering under the steering column he was able to get the car running. The armored teen got out of the car and lifted his new prize up into his arms and put in the back seat to rest. "Rest now lovely Gwen, we'll be home soon." He said softly as he reversed the car and got back on the highway and headed east.

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Ben moved down the wall out of sight until he was in position for his plan to work. When he was in place he squealed as he shot small bits of his web and trapping his friend against the wall. "Don't worry Kevin; you'll be back to your old self in no time… Now I just have to figure out how to change you back into your old annoying self." He squealed as he jumped to avoid the resin that was spit at him.

"Now that's not very nice, I'm trying to help you to be human again." He said moving up the wall. "Gwen will be upset that you're not fighting the alien that has taken over you instead of me." He said shooting another web at Kevin and sticking him to the wall. Ben took the opportunity and continued to fire the webs until Kevin was barely visible anymore. As he climbed down the wall Ben laughed and changed back into his human self.

Kevin struggled against the webs that were keeping him pinned to the wall. He managed to free one arm before the webs hardened even more making his movements even less than before. "Don't worry you're in good hands Kevin I'll get you back to normal soon. I just wish I knew how to fix… wait I wonder…if it work, it worked on Ken but that was only a partial take over at the time." Ben said to himself as he looked that the Omnitrix on his wrist. "Omnitrix is there any way to fix Kevin's DNA?" he asked the alien watch.

"DNA repairing is possible, omnitrix shut down for charging cycle is imminent" the watch replied. Ben looked at his friend and former rival "Do it" he said with s a smirk, he knew Kevin would finally owe him for saving him from being a DN Alien forever. The room was filled with a bright green light, when Ben opened his eyes back up Kevin was back to his old self finally.

Running over to his friend Ben ripped at the spider webs and freed Kevin "What the heck happened, why do I feels like I was hit by a truck?" Kevin asked rubbing his head. Ben laughed a bit. "I'll explain it to you later but first we need to get out of here without being caught." He said looking at the red face plate of the omnitrix as it recharged.

"So where's Gwen, she wasn't turned into a DN Alien was she?" Kevin asked looking around the hatchery. Ben laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Funny story, we ran into Mike Morningstar in the holding cell area, and well… Gwen agreed to a bargain of his, her freedom for information on how to free you." he said taking a step backwards away from the older teen.

Kevin was livid at that point "And you just let her do that, what kind of cousin are you? You let Gwen walk right into a trap." He said growling and heading for the back door. Kevin placed a good kick against the door and sent it flying. Ben whistled as the broken pieces of the door just hung from the small metal hinges.

Both teens stuck close together to avoid having to deal with a repeat of before. By the time they reached the edge of the wall they both let out a sigh of relief and made their way to Kevin's car. Ben looked around "It was right here…now Kevin, hitting me isn't going to fix anything" Ben said raising his hands in front of his face and backing up till he tripped backwards over a small rock.

Kevin cracked up and put his arms around his middle as he laughed at Ben got to his feet and dusted himself off. "So you're not mad that Morningstar is driving your car and that Gwen is with him?" Ben asked quizzically. Kevin's face went serious "Of course I'm mad, no one drives my car but me… and Gwen can take care of herself she knows how to deal with Morningstar." He said trying to hide the fact that his voice cracked a bit.

Ben looked around "So… how do we get back to Bellwood anyway?"He asked looking around he glanced at the omnitrix that was still charging. When Ben looked up Kevin was walking away in the general direction of Bellwood. "Kevin it's got to be like a four hour walk back home" Ben whined running after the older teen.

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Kevin's car purred as it idled for a moment outside a small mansion; it had been some time since Michael had actually been home, but his parents were never home so it wasn't like he was really missed. Reaching under the steering column he un-did the wires and killed the engine.

"We're home now" he said softly picking Gwen up and carrying her inside. He juggled the unconscious girl for a moment as he turned the main power on along with a high powered electromagnetic field for protection and security. Looking around the main foyer he chuckled at the fact it was just as how he left it. Walking up the stairs he headed for the guest room across the hall from his own room. Michael put Gwen on the bed carefully before leaving the room and closing the door quietly behind him.

Quietly he made his way down the stairs to the foyer once again, looking around he headed into the basement where he kept all the technology he had collected. Turning on the computers he took a seat at the monitors and started to type away trying to find a way to return himself back to his former good looks. His fingers danced over the keyboards as he worked trying to find a permanent solution to his problem. He typed in formula for an energy conversion to give him back his former looks and powers after making sure that it works the first time.

Above Michael on the second floor Gwen slowly woke up and looked around the bedroom she was in, the bed she was lying on was so soft and the silk sheets were very comfortable as they brushed against her skin. Gwen looked around the room carefully before she got up from the bed and started to look around the room.

The room was lavishly decorated with a large wood desk in the corner and large paintings on the walls. Her eyes fell on the wooden doors they were a rich dark color with the most beautiful carving of a garden scene that Gwen had ever seen she walked over to the doors and traced her fingers over carving of a fountain, it looked so real she expected the water droplets to be wet and the wooden carved birds to start singing.

Gwen placed her hand on the ornate door handle and pulled the door open with surprise. "He must not have expected me to wake up so soon" she whispered to herself as she made her way down the hall, her footsteps were muffled by the large carpet that covered most of the stone floor.

Keeping her guard up as she walked down the hall Gwen was practically holding her breath in anticipation for some sort of attack. When she reached the staircase she looked around for any signs of a security system. "For an evil guy he is sure lacking on high tech security systems" she whispered as she made her way down the stairs and across the large foyer toward the giant front doors.

When she reached the front doors she was careful in touching them since she had a feeling they were either locked or charged with electricity. Gwen reached over and touched the door handle finding it to be safe she pulled the door open and saw the stone stairs leading down to a familiar green sports car. She gave a small sigh of relief as she went down the stairs quickly, just as she came to the bottom of the stairs she felt a surge of energy shoot through her body and send her flying backward toward the stairs. Using her mana she caught herself and cushioned her fall.

"Very nice use of your powers, I must say I wasn't quite sure that the EM shield was going to keep you in. But now I am quite sure it will" he said chuckling "Now it's late and you should get some sleep. I'm sure you all ready know where your room is." he added sweeping his arm toward the front door.

Gwen growled under her breath as she stomped back inside, she thought of Kevin and Ben and wondered if Ben had succeeded in bringing the old Kevin back. She walks back up the stairs and went into her room and closed the door behind her. "I guess I am stuck in here for now" she said pulling her cell phone out of her pocket she tried to turn it on but it wasn't turning on "It must be fried… well that's just great" she said tossing it onto the bed. As Gwen walked around the bedroom she reached into her other pocket and found her plumber's badge and realized it was still working. "It will be a miracle if it reaches outside of this shield but it's worth a shot" she mumbled tapping the top once and put it down on the small table next to her as she took a seat in the chair.

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Ben and Kevin were walking on the side of the highway they had been only walking for an hour and they were exhausted. When they took a rest Ben noticed a muffled beeping sound "Hey Kevin can you explain why your butt is beeping?" he asked Kevin moved away from the rock he was leaning on and reached into his back pocket and pulled out his plumber's badge " So that's where I put it." He said chuckling a bit as Ben rolled his eyes.

"I think it might be Gwen's badge but I can't be sure really, and also we can't do much right now since we're still stuck in the desert and this badge signal is at least thirty miles away maybe less." Kevin said shoving the badge back into his pocket as he started to walk again.

Ben followed behind "Well shouldn't be going in the other direction?" he asked catching up to Kevin.

Kevin stopped short and turned around "Yeah that's a great idea, except there is one problem… we're stuck in the middle of the desert, it would take hours to walk there and what if it isn't Gwen calling for help then it would have been a big waste of time." He remarked huffing loudly and began walking again down the highway. Ben sighed and followed Kevin "Kevin what if we just called for someone to help us, maybe my cousin Ken" Ben said kicking a few small stones as he walked.

"Oh yeah how are you planning on explaining to him that his sister is being held against her will by a power hungry plumber's kid, yeah that is going to go over real well I'd love to hear that conversation. So go ahead and call him I'll wait" Kevin said stopping and looking over at Ben.

Ben pulled his cell phone out and turned in a circle. "It doesn't matter I'm not getting any service out here, so we're going to have to hike closer to Bellwood to get any service." Ben said as he continued to walk past Kevin. His feet were killing him but he knew he would have to walk through it until they got cell service.

"How much farther do we have to walk?" Ben asked as he dragged his feet in the dirt causing small dust clouds to be kicked up around his feet.

Kevin turned around "If you ask me that question anymore than right now I swear I will punch you so hard your children will have a black eye" he said looking around as he moved over to large boulder and sat down to rest his feet. Looking up at the sky Kevin looked at the stars and saw a shooting star fly across the sky. He knew that a shooting star was just space junk or rocks but from where he was sitting it was pretty amazing. Kevin immediately thought of Gwen as the shooting star disappeared.

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Gwen was curious she didn't want to stay in the bedroom any longer, she wasn't tired at all. Getting up from the chair she left her badge on the table and left the room. Her first stop was the bedroom across the hall, reaching for the handle she found that the door was locked. Leaving the second floor once again Gwen ventured downstairs once more and headed for a side room where she heard the clacking of computer keys.

"I thought you were asleep?" Darkstar asked turning around and looking at the young Anodite standing in the doorway, he knew that Gwen wasn't going to be attempting any more escape attempts any time soon. "I couldn't sleep, besides I thought you would want to keep an eye on me instead of sending me away." Gwen replied taking a small step into the room.

Michael chuckled "You and I are like magnets when you step closer to me I feel I must move closer. But when I move towards you, you back up away from me. Polar opposites, but I must confess even if you back away and despise me for my actions in the past I still feel this is right." He said moving back over to the computer and typing quickly. Gwen stood rooted to the spot she pushed a few strands of hair back behind her ear.

"You realize that Kevin and Ben will find us and figure out a way to get out of here." She remarked putting her arms around herself. Michael chuckled "That is if you want to leave…" he replied typing a few more keystrokes into the computer in front of him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Attraction**

"What do you mean if I want to leave, of course I want to leave this place" she said stamping her foot on the floor. Michael turned around and smirked once more "Why, you want to get back to your old life so quickly, is it because you want to see Levin so badly?" he asked chuckling

Gwen took a step forward "Oh like you're so perfect that I would want to stay. Kevin is a much better person then you could ever be or even hope to be." She said putting her hand on her hip.

Michael stopped typing "Ah yes he is so perfect with his criminal record, illegal alien technology trading and not to mention that he has also been sent to the Null Void. So enlighten me as to how he is a perfect choice. I'm very interested on your views because you seem like such a smart person." He said finishing his typing.

"Hold that thought" he added walking over to a small pair of copper wrapped handles that were attached to an even larger machine. Michael reached up and removed the large metal mask and tossed it aside along with his gloves. Reaching over he turned a small switch on a console. "This will only take a moment my lovely Gwen" he said grabbing the handles and absorbing the energy coursing through the machine. Gwen turned away as the room filled with bright light. Backing up Gwen bumped into the wall as she covered her eyes.

When she lowered her arm she gasped at the sight in front of her, the teen in front of her was once again the tan god of a teen that was a handsome nightmare. So very beautiful but so dangerous, Gwen remembered the first time they met, with his flirtatious voice and hidden agenda for power.

As he let go of the handles Michael began to laugh. "It worked, it actually worked" he said as he walked over to a large mirror on the wall touching his face "Now you can't just say that you are attracted to Kevin just because he is handsome since I am back to my old self" he remarked looking at Gwen's reflection in the mirror.

The young woman turned her head and looked out the window at the darkness. "I will get out of here; you can't hold me here forever." She said crossing her arms over his chest. Michael moved over quickly and stood behind Gwen. "Can't you just give me a chance, instead of just pushing me away because of my past?" he asked, Gwen turned around and backed up slowly from the blonde.

"You can't just keep acting like you are a good guy when I know that you are just going to go back to your old self. That's what makes you and Kevin two very different people." She said looking at the blonde. Michael smirked and stepped closer closing the space between them. Reaching forward his fingers ghosted over her cheek before lowering his hand. Moving a step back he held his hand to Gwen. "You look very tired; it is late let me walk you back upstairs so you can sleep." He said as he wrapped his fingers around Gwen's hand and led her out of the large room and up the stairs to the two bedrooms. "Sleep well, I will see you in the morning" he said opening Gwen's door for her as he moved aside and walked to his door and unlocked the door and looked back over his shoulder and smiled at Gwen before walking into the room and closing the door behind him.

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"Kevin I'm tired can't we take a break? We've been walking for hours" Ben asked groaning as he dragged his feet as he dragged his tired body through the desert. Kevin turned around "We have been for only two hours and if you and Gwen hadn't made that stupid deal then we could've been home by now. And that freak has my car; he probably doesn't even know how to drive it and the gears are all striped now." He said as he grabbed Ben by the wrist "The omnitrix is recharged so why haven't you taken off and left me behind?" Kevin asked finally letting his friend's wrist go.

Ben looked at the alien device "I guess you're not that heavy, If I turn into Jetray I can probably get us home pretty fast" he said dialing the watch and slamming it down. "Jetray" "Get on we can be in Bellwood in a matter of minutes I believe" The Aerophibian said as Kevin climbed onto his back.

Taking to the sky Jetray headed for Bellwood, taking it slow for Kevin's sake they arrived in Bellwood just as the clock tower chimed midnight. Ben flew down in front of Kevin's house and let Kevin climb off him before changing back. "Oh man, it's after midnight…my parents are going to kill me, not to mention my aunt and uncle are going to murder us." Ben said as he started to pace.

"What do you mean us, they're going to murder me first, I'm the no good bad boy that drives a sports car and on certain occasions been known to get a few speeding tickets" Kevin said nonchalantly as he walked toward his garage. "A few speeding tickets, you probably have more tickets than everyone in Bellwood combined" Ben said following the older teen as they walked into the garage through the side door.

Kevin chuckled as he looked around "Come on you can crash inside it's late we'll go looking for my car and Gwen in the morning I'm beat" Kevin said as he led Ben into the house When they reached the living room Kevin felt the rug under his foot squish "You better take care of this, if there is any water damage then a bad date with that girl you like is the least of your worries." Kevin mumbled as he walked through the living room and into his bed room.

Ben stood in the living room as he heard Kevin close his bedroom door. Looking around the living room, all the ice he put around the room that afternoon had melted. Clicking his tongue as he thought Ben smirked and dialed the Omnitrix and slammed the face plate. "Swampfire" the alien called out keeping his voice down as he started to suck the water out of the rug and into his roots. "Ah now that hits the spot" he said as he looked around for anymore water damage. The walls and ceiling were perfectly dry. When the water was completely sucked out of the carpet Ben walked over to the couch and sucked the remaining water out of it and changed back before collapsing on said couch. In a matter of seconds Ben was asleep his arm draped over his chest and his legs hanging over the other arm of the couch.

In the bedroom Kevin paced the open area of his room, the entire time he was acting like he just cared about his car he was worried about Gwen. Kevin gave a small chuckle he knew that he cared about Gwen and he was worried about her being alone Darkstar. Lying down on his bed Kevin groaned at how sore he was from walking. The soft pillow under his head put him to sleep.

Kevin groaned as a bright light hit him in the eyes " Tennyson, you better run" Kevin mumbled as he sat up and realized that it was the sun pouring through his bedroom window. Looking over at his nightstand Kevin saw it was eight in the morning. Climbing out of bed Kevin stripped out of his clothes and went into his bathroom and took a quick shower. When he walked out of the bathroom Ben was sitting on his bed waiting for him.

"If you don't want to be scarred for life then you better get out of here Tennyson" Kevin said as he walked over to his closet in nothing but a towel. "I'm going, but before I go I just thought you should know that Gwen's badge signal isn't showing up anymore. I grabbed your badge while you were in the shower and it's not beeping anymore." Ben said tossing the badge back on the bed. "She either turned it off before that jerk Darkstar found it or he found it and smashed it." Kevin said grabbing a new change of clothes.

Ben got up from the bed and left the room and closed the door behind him. Kevin walked over and locked the door before he removed his towel and started to get dressed. When he left his bedroom he found Ben in the kitchen digging into a package of cookies. Reaching past his hand he grabbed a single cookie and popped it into his mouth and headed for the front door. "If you're done stuffing your face we have to get going." Kevin said as he left the living room and headed down the front walkway. Ben ran out of the house after the older teen "But we don't have a car" he said as Kevin turned to him and smirked "Not yet, but we will" he said smirking.

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Michael walked up the stairs and up to Gwen's door knocking lightly he waited a moment before entering the bedroom. He smirked a bit at the sleeping form on the bed, walking over he reached over and brushed a few strands of hair off of Gwen's sleeping face before he leaned down.

"It's time to wake up Gwen, I made you breakfast out in the garden" Michael said standing up more as Gwen started to open her eyes. "Kevin?" she asked as her eyes started to focus, when she saw it wasn't Kevin standing over her she sat up quickly. "I'm not hungry" she said coolly as she pushed passed him and walked across the room to the bathroom connected to her room and shut the door behind her.

The blonde teen sighed and walked over to the bathroom door "Gwen, I'm trying to show you that I have changed. I have something for you, I had to guess on the size but I hope you will wear it to breakfast" Michael said leaving the room for a moment and coming back in and laying a white box on the bed. "I'll wait for you downstairs." He called out as he left the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Gwen cracked the bathroom door open a bit before she walked back into the bedroom and over to the bed. Grabbing the cover on the box she ripped it off and threw it aside, inside the box was a very beautiful light bluish green summer dress. She lifted it out of the box and looked it over carefully. She looked down at her own clothes which were wrinkled and dirty. Gwen quickly changed out of her old clothes and put the dress on, it fit perfectly it accentuated all her curves.

Looking back at the box she saw a pair of sandals that went with the dress. Slipping them on her feet she left the room and went downstairs and found Michael waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. "I knew it was perfect this morning when I bought it, so please" he said leading Gwen through the dining room and out onto a patio that over looked the gardens.

Gwen was a little worried she was going to be shocked by another invisible shield. "No worries, the shield is much farther back so you won't be hurt I promise" he said leading Gwen to a small table with two chairs facing each other. "You must be famished" Michael remarked as he pulled Gwen's chair out for her and held it until she sat down. Moving over he sat down and smiled.

"If you are trying to show you have changed you could let me use a phone to call Ben. I'm worried about him." Gwen said grabbing a small bunch of grapes out of a bowl and putting them on her plate. "I would use my cell phone, but the shield last night fried my phone" she added.

Michael nodded his head "yes that is one of the side effects of walking into that shield. When I first built it into the mansion security I was always forgetting it. As for calling your cousin I will allow it but you have to have it on speaker and I would only request that you allow me to listen in." he said pulling a silver phone out of his pocket. Gwen reached for the phone only to have it pulled back a bit

"One thing I forgot to mention, if you try to try to tell him where you are I'll be forced to take the phone away" he said handing the phone to Gwen. Opening up the phone Gwen hit the speaker button and called her cousin and waited for him to pick up, when the call went right to voicemail she sighed "Ben when you get this message just know that I'm safe and being treated very well. Tell Kevin his car is fine that is if you figured out how to turn him back to normal" She said hanging up and handing the phone back.

Sighing softly Gwen ate a few grapes and some toast, her thoughts revolved around Kevin and if she would ever see him again. "Gwen after breakfast would you like to walk around the garden with me. I'm sure you love it. Trust me" he said calmly as he sipped a small bit of tea.

Gwen looked out over the gardens and stood up finally "I'll play along with your game for now, its better than just staying up in that bedroom waiting for Ben and Kevin to come save me." She said taking a sip of orange juice. When she finished eating she stood up and started to walk toward the railing resting her hands on the stone railing she thought of Kevin again. Walking away from Michael as he came up behind her Gwen headed into the garden looking at the rose bushes.

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Kevin led Ben across town to a parking garage next to an office building, the teens walked up the stairs to the third level of a parking garage. Both teens walked through the parking structure till they came to a high end black sports car.

Ben whistled as he looked the car over, he wanted to run his hand over it to see if it was real." So this belongs to your step dad?" he asked looking at Kevin as he unlocked the door with a spare key. "Yeah he just got it so have to be extra careful with it or he's going to kill me for taking it." The older teen said slipping into the driver's seat with great care. Ben jumped into the passenger seat and leaned back into the comfortable leather seat.

Turning the key in the ignition the car roared to life, the dashboard lit up as Kevin adjusted the seat and put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking spot and headed out of the parking garage.

Looking at his badge that he left of the top of the dashboard Kevin hoped that it would pick up the signal from the night before again. Tearing down the highway at sixty miles an hour Kevin headed for the area where they first picked up the signal. As they traveled through the desert Kevin made sure to avoid each pot hole to keep the car from any damage. When they passed the canyon walls the plumber's badge on the dashboard began to beep.

"All right, we got the signal again" Kevin said pressing his foot down on the accelerator speeding the car up to seventy miles an hour, shooting down the highway Kevin laughed at the power that the car had. "This car is awesome, but it could never replace my car… huh, I wonder how we're going to get both cars home" Kevin wondered as the speedometer crept steadily past eighty.

Ben chuckled softly at the air condition air in the car "Well with sweet car like this if you only get to drive it once then you can probably hold onto that memory while you serve any grounding you might get for taking it" he said as he glanced out the window and the scenery speeding by. "So Kevin, are you going to kiss Gwen when you see her again?" Ben asked laughing "Oomph" Ben let out as Kevin managed to elbow him in the stomach hard. The brunette chuckled as he pulled his legs up to his chest to protect himself from any more assaults. "So if you're not going to kiss her then I'm pretty sure you're going to wrap Morningstar in the mouth right?" he asked making sure he was safe.

Kevin thought for a moment "If you don't let me concentrate on keeping this car on the road Morningstar isn't the only one I'm going to be hitting, now be quite." Kevin said gripping the steering wheel even tighter as he turned the wheel to miss a giant pot hole in the road.

"We've been lucky so far to miss any radar right now, I would not want to be pulled over and have to explain to the cops why I'm driving a car that isn't registered in my name" Kevin mumbled as they headed down the highway.

Kevin sighed as he drove he missed his car and all the alien tech he had installed into it, the auto pilot, the Kaltlian missiles over the wheel wells in the front and new spoiler he just put on. Driving a normal sports car was fun but he felt vulnerable in it. Kevin's car was his baby he put so much work into making it run and keeping it in perfect condition.

Ben sighed and looked over at Kevin "Hey Kevin when you see Gwen don't snap at her for going off like she did, she did it for you. She was really worried about you when you were not yourself." He remarked turning his head away and looking back at the desert flying by.

Glancing away from the road Kevin looked at his friend "I'm not mad at her, I could never be mad at Gwen, I'm mad at you for letting her go without trying everything else first" Kevin said tightening his grip on the steering wheel till he was starting to absorb it. Releasing the tension he let out the breath he was holding. The material disappeared from his fingers as his eyes moved over to the map the badge was projecting.

"If someone were driving the normal speed limit they would be there in two hours we could probably make it in one but we're going to have to stop for gas at the next town we go past, Ray didn't bother to fill his car today before work" Kevin grumbled looking at the gas gauge.

The brunette chuckled as he looked out the front window at the world a head of them and sees a sign for a town " Well if you can last seven miles then we can get some gas in the next town" he said in a bored tone. "I wonder if Gwen is bored right now." Ben said no one in particular as he tapped his fingers against the window controls.

"You know she has a cell phone, maybe she called you… is your phone even on?" Kevin asked looking at Ben out of the corner of his eye.

Ben sat up and pulled his phone out of his pocket "I forgot to turn it on" he said laughing as he turned the phone on and heard the tell tale beep that he had a voicemail. Ben opened his voicemail and put the phone on speaker "Ben when you get this message just know that I'm safe and being treated very well. Tell Kevin his car is fine that is if you figured out how to turn him back to normal" the phone message said. Kevin looked over at the other teen "That's it, what about where she is?" he asked as he looked back at the highway.

"Maybe she couldn't say Darkstar could have been listening in on the conversation. Either way at least we know she's all right" Ben said trying to lighten the mood in the car. Kevin just grunted as he started to slow the car down as they came into a small town, when they found the only gas station in town he pulled up to the pump. "Don't touch anything" he growled as he turned the car off and got out. Walking around the back of the car Kevin grabbed the handle of the pump and got the car ready and started to fill the tank.

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Gwen walked around the garden keeping at least four feet between her and the blonde. "Gwen, do you like the gardens? Do you have any favorites?" he asked closing the small gap in between them. He wanted to make Gwen fall for him; Michael knew that his time was running out.

The red head turned around slowly she could see that there was no hidden questions this time. "Roses…the yellow ones" she said softly looking over her shoulder at the blonde. Gwen glanced around she was looking for a power switch to the EM shield that surrounded the mansion.

"If you want even after everything you can stay here with me, where you can have these gardens all to yourself" he said calmly walking even closer and placing his hand on Gwen's shoulder. "I know that right now you want to get away from be but over time you can grow to love me." Michael said calmly as he ran his hand closer to the base of Gwen's neck and pushed the hair out of the way and tightened his grip on her shoulder.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Chaos**

When the gas pump clicked off Kevin put the gas cap back in place and closed the cover over the gas cap and paid at the pump before getting back in the car. "Hang on" he said turning the key and peeling out of the parking lot and down the street. The spots car came to a halt at a four way intersection. Turning down the right street Kevin slowed down as a police car passed by him. Kevin noticed the look Ben was giving him "We don't need to be pulled over right now; I don't want to explain how we took my stepfather's car and why we're speeding to go save someone from a power sucking teenager." He said glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure the police car wasn't turning around to follow them.

Following the map on the badge Kevin looked around the fancy neighborhood and gagged. "I remember this place; this town is where we first met him… which means we're going back to his mansion." Kevin groaned as they turned up another street and pulled up the street slowly trying not to be too noticed by people.

Ben looked out the window of the car as they pulled up a large driveway. "Now Kevin don't rush into anything we don't know what's going on in there" Ben said as the car pulled up the driveway silently. Kevin looked around carefully "I don't see any cameras or any security" he said turning the key off and climbing out of the car, as he walked around the front of the car he absorbed the metal of the car and headed for the front door. As he made it to just beside his own car he felt a jolt of electricity shoot through his body. Kevin felt himself thrown backwards and hit something hard and metal.

Ben groaned at Kevin's pain and laughed softly as he got out of the car and looked at Kevin as he slowly sat up on the hood on the car. "What happened?" he asked offering a hand to his friend. Kevin rolled off the hood and fell onto the ground and rolled back and forth for a moment.

"The car what happened to it?" he asked mumbling as he groaned softly. His body was tingling still. Ben crouched down and clicked his tongue a bit. "Well… um… let's just say that your step father is going to have a coronary for the fact that you just trashed his car." He said chuckling. Kevin rolled onto his back and put his hands over his eyes. "I'm dead…"he groaned out as he curled forward and started to sit up slowly.

Kevin looked at the car and saw the large dent in the side. Getting to his feet Kevin sighed loudly "I'll deal with that later, right now we have to figure out what just happened." He said trying to walk toward his car again, once again he felt the heavy jolt and the feeling that he was flying again. The sickening crunch of a car door under his metal armor made Kevin close his eyes as he got to his feet. "It's some kind of shield keeping us out, this could be a problem." Kevin said looking around. "It's invisible, but it is there…" he added reaching his hand forward till he felt the electricity tingle in his fingers before pulling his hand back.

Ben looked around "Well there has to be a way to turn it off, or we can just sit out here all day and hope that we're noticed." The brunette said looking for some kind of switch to turn the shield off. "Maybe if we could somehow let Gwen know we're here she could look for a way to shut it off."Ben added looking at all the mansion in front of them. He glanced back at Kevin who was looking over the damage done to the car. "Kevin, enough worrying about the car" Ben said.

"I'm so grounded, I'm never getting out of my room after I have done this to his car he's going to ground me till I'm dead" Kevin groaned as he started to bang his head against the roof of the car. Ben walked over to Kevin "It's not that bad, it can be fixed without him noticing it's not like the car blew up or anything." He said trying to help cheer his friend up. Kevin stood up and dropped his armor and looked around.

He looked for anything that could be generating the shield. Looking up on top of the mansion he squinted against the bright sky. "There on the roof, that group of lightning rods on the roof they are what's generating the shield. But the problem is we can't get to them from out here they have to be destroyed before we can get any closer to the mansion.

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Gwen walked toward the fountain in the center of the garden and sat down to look at the flowers. The first thing she thought of was an escape plan. When the blonde walked over she looked away from him. Her first plan of just running out the front door failed Gwen knew that getting away was going to be harder than she thought. As she stood up Gwen noticed that the blonde was standing over by a bush picking a flower.

When he held the flower out to her Gwen didn't want to take the flower at first. _What's the harm in taking a flower from him?_ She thought as she looked at the blonde. "Thank you" Gwen said softly not looking Michael in the eye.

The blonde chuckled softly as he took Gwen's free hand in his. "See, I can be a good guy, you just have to give me a chance since you said it yourself that you gave Kevin a chance." He said leading Gwen to the other side of the garden that was filled with bushes that were covered in raspberries and blueberries. Going over to the raspberries Michael picked a couple and popped them into his mouth and smirked at the taste.

" Try them… they are perfect" he said letting Gwen's hand, Michael watched the red head walk over to the bushes and pick a few deep red raspberries and put them into her mouth. Gwen had planned that if she humored Michael for a little while he might let it slip where she could find a way out her luxurious prison. "Your right they are really good, there are just so many of them" she said using flirting against the blonde hoping to get him to drop his guard.

Michael was taken aback at how quickly Gwen was accepting of her new life with him. He gave an inner smirk. _If she really has changed then she won't push me away _Michael thought as he closed the gap between himself and Gwen and leaned in pressing his lips against hers. Immediately Gwen put her hands up against Michael's chest to push him away, in the split second her hands came to rest on his chest she realized it would be bad for her plans.

Her fingers twitched slightly as the voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to push the blonde away and look for a way out. Gwen ignored the voice; she tensed slightly as she felt his arms go around her waist. When they finally pulled apart Gwen was speechless. Her heart was beating so loud she was sure that the blonde could hear it.

"It's about time we head inside, I'm sure you want to be getting away from me since you have said it so many times" he said smirking as he taking Gwen's hand and walking her back into the mansion.

Gwen pulled her hand free and looked at the blonde beside her "I just want to be alone right now" she said softly as she walked away from the blonde and into the library. She found a chair that was not covered by stacks of books and a few star charts. The young Anodite sat down and started to look the charts over to see what Michael was studying.

She was looking at the star charts so intensely that she didn't hear Michael slip into the room until he was right behind her and his hand was on her shoulder. "Sorry I didn't mean to make you jump" he apologized as he moved around the couch and sat down on the edge. "I wanted to know if you needed anything before I went back to work in the other room?" he asked looking right at the girl beside him. Gwen felt her heart beat a bit faster, her head felt foggy as she tried not to be swayed by the blonde beside her. "No… I'm fine; I just wanted to be alone for a little while" Gwen said

Michael smirked "You don't seem fine you seem very nervous or excited that I'm here I can't really be sure" he said moving closer and leaning in for another kiss. Just as his lips were about to touch hers something outside caught his eye. Pulling away quickly he stood up and walked over to the window "It seems we have some uninvited guests." Michael remarked as Gwen ran up beside him to look out the window at the two teens standing beside a banged up sports car.

"It seems they have found out the hard way about my security system. But don't worry my dear, they can try and get through as many times as they like they still won't get into this mansion. I'm sure of it, so Levin can sit out there and stew as he tries to think of how to get his car back." Michael said as he watched Gwen's facial expressions, when her lips twitched down slightly he knew he had her questioning Kevin's motives for being there.

She knew Ben was there to save her, they were cousins and he cared about her safety. Gwen knew Kevin liked her but she would never be more than second best to him. His car would be more important to him always, that she would never be that important to him, she knew he cared about her when they were fighting but it was starting to look like just friendship more than ever. Looking out the window Gwen felt her heart get heavy and rise up into her throat a bit as she tried to say something but the words died in her throat. When she felt Michael's arms around her she didn't fight it as he pulled her against his chest.

Gwen couldn't see the triumphant smirk on Michael's face as he looked out the window at Ben and Kevin as they finally saw the two in the window, Gwen being held in his arms. The blonde's smirk grew even wider when he saw the pure anger etched on Kevin's face; he could tell the raven haired teen was livid and ready to try something stupid in the name of love.

_It took less time than I expected for her to start questioning Levin's motives and bend to my advances now I just need keep those two busy_ _and out of my way while I win Gwen over even more ._ Michael thought as he kept Gwen close against his chest. After a moment he pulled back enough to lean down and kiss Gwen again this time with such passion that she actually opened her eyes in shock for a moment and letting out a small surprised squeak before he eyes closed again out of reflex more than anything else.

Michael gave an inner chuckle to himself he could almost feel the anger radiating off of Kevin as he watched from outside as his rival kissed the girl he cared about. When they finally broke apart for air Michael smiled and ignored Kevin outside.

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Ben looked over at Kevin, and he could tell his friend was mad he was gripping the side fender above the driver's side wheel so tightly that he not only had absorbed the metal but he was crushing the fender like it was made of clay. The omnitrix user held his friend back for as long as he could. "Kevin you're just going to get thrown back out here again and damage your step-father's car even more" Ben remarked looking at the once great looking sports car.

Kevin stopped for a moment "There has to be a way in there, we have to take those lightning rods up there. But like I said before it's near impossible to destroy them from out here" he said sighing. Ben smirked and dialed the Omnitrix for a moment before slamming his hand down.

"Jetray!" the alien exclaimed before taking to the sky and flying over the mansion and floating above the roof until he was in the perfect spot to shoot his rays at the top most part of the shield hoping that he could find a weakness. Jetray concentrated his beams and watched as his beams started to get closer to the rods until they all exploded from the energy. "Excellent" Jetray said as he flew back down to the ground.

When Ben changed back he walked over to Kevin "I think the shield is down… let's get in there and get Gwen back" Ben said as he slowly made his way past Kevin's car safely and up the front steps.

Kevin chuckled and slammed his body against the front door breaking a large hole in the wood door. Not bothering to stop he made his way toward the study and kicked the door open. "Come on Gwen let's go, I want to get my car out of here before Morningstar strips anymore gears on it" he said not noticing the look he was getting from Gwen.

Ben elbowed Kevin in the ribs "We're here to take Gwen home; taking Kevin's car home is just extra." He said trying to get Kevin to realize that wheat he was saying was the wrong thing. He looked at his cousin "Gwen we both want you to come home, you know how Kevin can be he says one thing but he wants you back too. You should have seen him outside before, when we saw Morningstar kiss you he actually damaged his step-father's car he was so jealous." Ben said trying to fix the ugly problem that was in the air.

Michael kept Gwen close and sighed softly. "Well I can see where your mind set is Levin, the first thing out of your mouth was a command to Gwen just so you could save your car from being damaged, and Ben we're supposed to believe that Kevin was really jealous if he was then wouldn't he have come over and tried to hit me by now?" Michael asked with a small chuckle.

" I thought you would never ask" Kevin said moving forward as he threw a punch only to have Michael moved to the side at the last second still keeping Gwen at his side.

"Ah… but the sad thing is that I had to ask just for you to make a move Levin, do you really think that little of Gwen. It seems that having me show her how a real man should act toward a lady is only proving the point even more… that she is making the right choice by not running to you" he said with a smirk.

Kevin growled "that's because you have your arm around her so she can't run off, now hold still while I beat your face into pulp." Kevin said as he stood ready to fight. Ben sighed and looked at his cousin. "Come on Gwen your parents are going to worry when you're not home when they get back from visiting Ken at college." He said hoping he could win Gwen over to coming home.

Gwen looked at her cousin "I'll come home for them; I don't want them to worry about me or for you to worry about me either Ben." She said pulling away from Michael. "Oh and Kevin, I'm not doing this for you at all… I know you're going to say that I was brainwashed or something but I wasn't I was just shown a good time. Michael has been nothing more than a gentleman the entire time I've been here." She added walking past Kevin and Ben and running up the stairs quickly to the bedroom she had been staying in and grabbed her dirty clothes, her broken cell phone and her plumber's badge.

As she walked downstairs Gwen held onto her old clothes and walked out the front door and climbed into the backseat of Kevin's car and waited for Ben and Kevin. Ben looked at the blonde in front of him. "I don't know what you've done but you've done something to Gwen I just know it." He said looking over at Kevin whose face had a mixture of emotions on it. "Come on Kevin we better figure out how to get your step-father's car home and yours." He said grabbing his friend by the forearm and dragging him out of the mansion and over to the two sports cars.

Kevin looked over at the damaged car and sighed at the fact that there was no one else to drive the car, Ben was still fifteen and with no permit yet to speak of, so the car was stuck. He was in a tight mess, it was either let Ben drive his car with no permit and have the chance of getting pulled over or using what money he had left from his last big weapon trade many months ago to pay for a flat bed truck to haul the car back to Bellwood. Kevin groaned and leaned against his car. He had two final options one of which he would rather cut his tongue out before doing the other would probably be as bad.

Standing up Kevin leaned in the car window and looked at Gwen who was facing away from him and looking out the passenger window. "Gwen would you drive my car back home, I know you've had some lessons and you have a learner's permit-." He stopped when the red head turned and looked at him. "No… I'll drive the other car but not this one, I wouldn't want you to worry about it anymore than you have" she said pushing the front seat forward and sending Ben into the dashboard before climbing out and heading for the other car.

She only looked back when she grabbed the keys from Kevin's hand. Her finger tips barely brushed the palm of his hand, he wanted to close his fingers on hers and force her to look at him but he just couldn't close his hand. Gwen was like the soft sand at the beach, so beautiful to look at, touch and even hold, but like the soft sand she had slipped between his fingers. "Be careful." He whispered as he climbed behind the wheel of his car. He ignored the blonde standing on the stoop watching them as they left.

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By the time the trio reached Bellwood it was the middle of the afternoon. Kevin had dropped Ben off at home; when he pulled into his driveway he looked at his step-father's car and realized just how much damage had been done to it. Walking to the driver's side of the car he cringed at the sight of the damage he did to the fender.

Kevin looked around for any sign that Gwen was there waiting for him, the only thing he could find was his set of keys to the sports car sitting on the driver's seat hidden in the corner out of view. Grabbing the keys Kevin sat in the driver's seat and started to plan how he was either going to get the car fixed or explain what happened to the car while getting ground until he turned thirty.

"I deserve it, I guess I better bring this back to the parking garage" he said quietly to himself as he started the car up and drove it to the garage by his step-father's office building. With nothing to do other than go home and lick his proverbial wounds he decided to meet his punishment head on instead of waiting for it to come to him he sat down against a large cement pillar with the level and number stenciled on it.

Time seemed to be moving at a snail's pace, when he heard people walking close to him he heard a familiar voice chatting normally. Then it stopped. Kevin looked up as he saw his step- father gaping at the damage. "What the hell did you do to my car; don't you have your own car to destroy?" The man asked going over to Kevin and reaching down and grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

Not in the mood to argue Kevin just looked over to the side at an oil stain on the concrete floor where another car had once been. "I'll pay to have the damages fixed" he mumbled thinking back to how the car had been damaged in the first place. The middle aged man looked down at his step-son as he pulled him to his feet. "Don't even think you're getting off that easy without punishment. Not only are you grounded for two months for taking the car without my permission but there is no computer, no cell phone, no television, and no friends, not that you seem to have any." Ray said shoving Kevin back hard enough into the pillar behind him.

"Don't start acting like my father, it's not something your good at Ray trust me" Kevin said getting his old attitude back. "You know your right I'm not your father, I actually stick around when there is a problem" he said standing his ground. Kevin wished the man in front of him was just a normal DN Alien so he could pound him into the ground. "Don't you dare talk about him" he said as he looked at the ground, his day was just getting worse, and the girl of his dreams hated him now and was kissing his rival.

Kevin pulled away from his step-father "I'm going home" he said showing past the older man and walking down the stairs and out of the parking garage. By the time he looked up from the street he found himself in front of Gwen's house. Walking up to the front door he knocked loudly. When the door open Kevin came face to face with Gwen, she was still wearing the sun dress that Michael had gotten her. Seeing the half Anodite girl that he only mentally admitted to having feelings for made him forget just how bad his day had been for a moment.

"Can I help you with something? " Gwen asked as she started to cross her arms around her chest, the raven haired teen knew she was still upset with him she only put her arms over her chest when she was upset. Shaking his head Kevin just looked at the girl in front of him; if he said anything it would just ruin everything. Taking a step forward he stopped himself before he did anything and turned around and mumbled a goodbye and took off down the front path and down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Runaway**

Ben jumped onto his bike and peddled as fast as he could to get across town when he finally reached his cousin's school, when he arrived at her prep school he found Gwen sitting under a tree with some of her friends. He peddled over and stopped. "Gwen can we talk for a moment, it's really important." He said out of breath.

Gwen got to her feet and walked out of ear shot of her friends and looked at her cousin "What is Ben?" she asked with a concerned voice. Ben took a few quick breaths before speaking. "I went over to Kevin's since I haven't seen him in a while and I found out from his step-dad that he took off" he said hoping that Gwen would worry.

"Kevin's a bid boy he can take care of himself besides he probably just snuck out for the day, I'm sure he's been grounded that's why you haven't seen him" she replied. Ben shook his head "No you misunderstand Gwen he hasn't been gone one day he's been gone for two months…the day you and him had that falling out he ran away" he said as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a large manila envelope that was bulging near the bottom."He left this behind for the both of us" Ben said as he opened the envelope and pulled out two folded sheets of paper one addressed to Gwen and the other to Ben.

Taking the folded paper from her cousin she held it in her hand and saw him reach back into the envelope and pull out Kevin's plumber's badge. Gwen looked at it and then unfolded the letter that was in her hands. It wasn't very long but she knew that Kevin wasn't one to pour his heart into a letter. Gwen read the letter to herself

'I can't stay in Bellwood; I know you're probably thinking how childish to run away like this but I've realized that now I'm just a third wheel. Now I didn't make up my mind just on the fact that your with that jerk Morningstar, I was thinking of doing this for some time and now just feels like the best time to do it. I know it's kind of stupid to say sorry in a letter but I am sorry for how I acted. I really was worried about you, and I guess I kind of vented my anger on Ray's car and I said some stupid things that made me sound insensitive. So again I'm sorry… but Bellwood just isn't for me anymore so I'm leaving my badge behind to prove to myself that I really don't have any ties here anymore.'

Gwen folded the letter in half and grabbed the badge Ben was holding "I'll hold onto this… I'm more responsible" she said as she put the badge into her bag. Ben nodded his head his letter was still unopened "I should get going, I'll see you at Mr. Smoothy if you're up to it I mean, and they're releasing two new flavors today." He said as his cousin declined and walked back over to her friends. When he was alone Ben opened up his very short letter.

'Don't look for me; you and Gwen don't need me anymore. Mostly Gwen, just keep an eye on her. Don't ever repeat this to her but I left so she could be happy, even if hurts me… all I could ever want is for her to be happy even if it meant letting her be with someone else.'

Ben folded up the letter and put it back into his bag and climbed back on his bike and began to slowly peddle out to the main road that led into town. Sighing loudly Ben thought back to the day when Kevin ran off. He saw how upset Kevin was when he saw Gwen with their rival and kissing him. _I knew I should have made sure Kevin was all right before having him drop me off at home._ Ben thought as he pulled into the parking lot of the smoothie shop.

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"Class five alien technologies some of the best around and I'm going to part with it for no less than seventy-five… thousand." Kevin said holding the lid of the crate up as they aliens looked at the weapons that filled the crate. In the past two months Kevin had bought, traded and sold more alien tech then he ever did in the past. In the short span of time Kevin was making quite an impressive name for himself especially because he never stayed in place too long for safety reasons and personal reasons. The aliens chattered quietly and pulled out a large case filled with money.

Kevin smirked as he took the case and opened it and whistled at the money "Pleasure doing business with you guys" he said walking out from under the overpass to where he had parked his car. Pulling his keys out of pocket and unlocking the driver's side door, he climbed in and slammed the door shut behind him.

Resting his head back against the headrest he sighed and looked toward the passenger seat where Gwen always sat. Putting the keys in the ignition he drove off till he was outside of the city limits in an area that was completely empty. Pulling onto a dirt road Kevin pulled behind a large overgrown bush and turned the engine off. Turning the key once notice he had the power back on. He turned on the radio before grabbing a blanket from the backseat and draped it over him-self.

Listening to the song Kevin started to feel a heavy tightness in his chest when he realized that the song was the same song he and Gwen danced to in front of his car. Reaching out from under the blanket her turned the car off and reclined his seat back to allow him to sleep. Sighing lightly Kevin shifted a bit before looking out the windshield at the stars above his car.

No matter how much distance he put between himself and Bellwood it didn't help him at all. Every night it was the same, before he fell asleep he always wondered what Gwen was doing at that moment. He couldn't stop himself from caring about her in every waking moment of his day he thought about her when he woke up in the morning, when he was in the middle of a trade, at night he dreamt of her and some of the few times they were actually alone together.

"Good night Gwen" he whispered softly as he closed his eyes and drifted off to another night of restless sleep. Right away his dreams were centered on the half Anodite girl that no matter what his faults were she always accepted him after she reprimanded him for doing something. His dreams were a collage of memories of all the times he and Gwen were fighting aliens or alone in his garage.

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By the time Gwen finally got home it was late, instead of hanging around the house she ran up the stairs to her room and tossed her bags onto her bed and pulled Kevin's plumber's badge out of her bag before climbing out the window and onto the roof. Putting her arms around her legs Gwen looked at the badge in her hands and sighed. Tracing her finger over the top she looked at the badge. It was a clear night and the stars were shimmering in the ink black sky above her head.

"You're such an immature idiot sometimes Kevin" she whispered as she kept tracing her finger over the top of the badge. She sighed softly and put the badge down beside her as she lay back against the rough shingles. Closing her eyes she tried to remember his smile and his voice even his touch. At that moment it was official she had forgotten the fact that she was still mad at Kevin for whatever her reason was two months ago. Bolting in an upright position she gasped "Oh my god…I think I'm in lo-" she cut herself off at the last second as she felt her cheeks heat up at the thought of finishing the sentence. As she got to her feet Gwen walked to her bedroom window and started to climb in, while she was climbing in her cell phone began to ring.

Grabbing her phone from her bag she read the text message 'Tomorrow night, dinner at six, I'll pick you up at five-thirty- M' Gwen gave a weak smile at the text message, she laughed softly. "How can I say that I have feelings for Kevin when Michael has been nothing but a gentleman to me" Gwen said softly to herself as she sent a text back saying she would be ready. Putting the phone and the badge on her nightstand she began to get ready for bed.

As she climbed into bed Gwen looked at the badge sitting on her nightstand before burying herself under her blankets. Her first thought before falling asleep was where Kevin was at that moment. For the first time Gwen realized how alone she felt in her room. Reaching out from under her blanket she grabbed the plumber's badge and held it against her chest as she started to fall asleep.

Her dreams that night were much darker like the movie Julie had forced her to watch on their movie night. She couldn't remember much about the movie just that the settings had made an impression on her. As she was walking down a dark road branches creaked above her head and a dark figure was walking toward her, at first it looked like Kevin but then it started to change into a large monster. When the monster reached her Gwen stood her ground. The monster in front of her was Kevin when he was younger. Just then Michael appeared beside Gwen and started to fight the mixed alien form of Kevin and finally was standing over him getting ready to finish him off.

"No!" Gwen screamed and opened her eyes and saw that it was still dark outside; she glanced over at her clock and saw it was only five in the morning. Sighing loudly she climbed out of bed and went over to her computer. After a few minutes of searching the files that her grandfather had left behind she started to look into his programs to see if she could find one that tracked down alien technology of any kind. When she had searched all the files she wanted to scream, the files were useless. Getting up from her chair she dressed in a long sleeve black shirt and a pair of black pants when she was done she climbed out her window and down the mana stairs she created till she hit the yard below.

When her feet hit the grass she looked around at the early morning world. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. Gwen headed out of her back yard and started to run down the sidewalk as she headed for her cousin's house. By the time she arrived she was almost out of breath.

"What a workout" she said to herself as she snuck to Ben's bedroom window, using her mana she unlocked the window and pushed it open. Climbing in the window Gwen looked at Ben as he slept he was chewing on his pillow and mumbling something about chili cheese fries. "Wake up Ben…I mean it Ben right now" she hissed getting ready to hit him.

Ben sat up the pillow hanging from his mouth. "Gwed…what are you doing here?" he asked as he pulled the pillow out of his mouth. He looked around the room and saw the clock on his desk. "Gwen it's almost six in the morning…" he commented as he wrapped his blanket around himself.

Gwen looked at her cousin "I just couldn't sleep well and I'm also confused about some things. Like why did Kevin really leave? He wouldn't leave just leave… he said he was sorry in the letter he left for me but why would he say sorry and that he was a third wheel. Ben I want to know what he said to you in your letter." Gwen asked taking a seat on the chair by the desk.

"Well he said that he wanted me to not touch anything that he had in any of his storage building but I just had to make sure no one touched anything" he said as his left eye began to twitch. Gwen huffed "Ben, tell me the truth" she said raising her voice a bit. Ben looked at Gwen and gave a defeated sigh. "He told me to keep an eye on you and not to tell you that he left because he wanted you to be happy even if you weren't with him." He said.

Looking down at the floor Gwen realized after a moment that her vision was blurred by tears. She wanted to cry but she didn't want to cry in front of her cousin. Ben climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt that had been crumpled into a ball and put them on before going over to his cousin. "You care about him, and he cares about you… I know this will sound weird but you two are perfect for each other." Ben said trying to push his hair down into place.

"I want to find him and bring him back to Bellwood" Gwen whispered as she looked at the floor a few stray tears finally escaping and hitting the floor. Ben smirked "I was wondering when you were going to say that. Don't worry, Kevin is a guy of habit he's going to be somewhere where there are good car shows, great alien tech and terrible junk food." he said standing up and holding his hand out to his cousin.

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Kevin woke with a start his cell phone was going off grabbing it off the dashboard he noticed it was an unknown number, and to him unknown numbers meant big cash. When he answered a heavy voice spoke to him. "I hear you have some good stuff meet me at the warehouse seventy-nine North street in fifteen minutes and bring your best stuff… I have cash" the voice said before hanging up. Kevin smirked cash was good it was very good. He always kept his best stuff in his trunk since he didn't trust rental places with it.

"Hello money…it's going to be a pleasure" he said tossing the blanket in the back seat and starting his car up. He peeled out of his hiding spot and headed for the warehouse on North Street. When he got there he knew he was early so he climbed out of his car and unlocked his trunk and leaned against it as he waited.

Soon a tall cloaked figure carrying a large suitcase walked over and stood before Kevin. Moving away from his car Kevin smirked "High quality stuff all class five, so look around if you're looking for something special then it could take a couple days to find it." He said with a smirk the hum of the light above them filling the silence. "So what do you want, I got to know so I can give you a price" Kevin said crossing his arms over his chest.

"What I want is for you two get down on your knees right now" the creature said as it pulled the cloak off revealing a plumber's uniform. "Kevin Ethan Levin you are under arrest for selling class five alien technology on a class three planet." The plumber said as he moved quickly and handcuffed Kevin with energy cuffs.

Kevin growled and struggled against the cuffs "This is entrapment; you called me here and tricked me!" He yelled as he was pulled toward the Plumber's ship. He twisted his body and threw his elbow at the plumber in the throat and took off as fast as he could until he was back in his car. Peeling out of the parking lot he headed north to a hideout he had in the mountains. With his hands still cuffed together he kept driving faster and faster till he was outside the cave, pulling in quickly he killed the engine to his car and put the shield up.

"Damn…" he growled getting out of the car and making his way over to a worktable where he had tools that he used to repair weapons that he sold. When he found the right tool he began to work on the annoying binds that were starting to cut into his skin, by the time he finally broke the cuffs off he dropped them onto the ground and kicked them across the hideout till they were lying under a workbench.

Walking in a small circle Kevin looked around the small dimly lit cave hideout. He knew if he went out to sell anything he would be caught. "I guess I just have to hide here till he stops looking for me" Kevin said to himself as he climbed into his car and disconnected any technology he could be tracked by. Circling the hideout Kevin groaned and went to the food storage he kept there. The area was filled with junk food and soda there was enough food to feed ten people for a year. Ripping open a bag of chips Kevin flopped onto an old couch and sighed.

Groaning loudly Kevin dropped the bag of chips on the floor and went over to his car and started to unload the trunk of his car and lock the technology away in safe places. When he was done the first thing he thought about was Gwen and how she would chew him out for getting arrested.

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"Ben wake up" Gwen said giving her cousin a small smack in the head; he had fallen asleep in the passenger seat of her brother's car again. Gwen had done something she never thought she would ever do. She and Ben had decided to look for Kevin; they had flown back to Gwen's house and 'borrowed' Ken's car with a text message promising to bring it back in one piece.

Gwen knew her brother wouldn't rat her out, she was the good child she could do no wrong in their parent's eyes… most of the time. If she got caught by the police while driving with just a learner's permit she would probably be grounded for a year, then sneaking out in the early morning hours could pin a couple extra months onto that sentence.

Ben yawned and looked out the window; dark shadows flew by as the sky started to lighten slowly as the sun rose into the sky. "What are you going to say to Kevin to get him to come home?" Ben asked putting a lot of emphasis on the fact that the older teen left because Gwen was with someone else.

"I'm not sure yet, I don't want to say anything that's going to make him not want to come back at all. I guess I have to think about what I should say." Gwen said as she pulled onto the highway.

When she had tried to read his mana from Bellwood it had been hard to get a lock on Kevin since it had been two months since he had been there. They had to trust her powers and hope that they were being led in the right direction.

Gwen knew it was going to probably take all day to look for Kevin, and there wasn't even a guarantee that they would even find him. He had a two month head start he could have been anywhere. "Ben if you were Kevin where would you go to run away from your problems?" she asked keeping her eyes locked on the dark road in front of her.

"Well Kevin loves his car so it would have to be somewhere, where he could either store the car or drive it. So any place he could get gas would be a place to look first. Next he would probably go either somewhere he knows real well or pretty well and last but not least Kevin used to deal in alien technology so I wouldn't push that thought aside. If I were him I would fall back on something I know really well." Ben said sitting up "So to find Kevin we just need to find a bunch of aliens that have been ripped off and we're on the right trail" he added with a smirk.

Gwen looked at her cousin "Yes really funny Ben, keep it up and I'll tell Julie you still suck your thumb." She threatened as they took the connector and started to head north east. Pulling the car to the side of the road Gwen grabbed the badge again and started to track Kevin. "It's hard to tell but he's pretty far, but that's expected after two months" she said softly. Then it dawned on her that it would take all day. Grabbing her cell phone from her pocket she handed it to Ben "Call Michael and tell him that I'm probably not going to make it for dinner tonight." She added as she pulled back onto the highway.

Ben groaned as he made the call and left a message on Michael's cell phone. He hung up and rested his head against the window and yawned. "Wake me when we find him, I've got to catch up on the sleep that you deprived me of." Ben said adjusting himself until he was comfortable. Gwen smiled and looked out the windshield the sun look very beautiful as it continued to rise into the sky.


	7. Chapter 7

**(( here is the much awaited final chapter of Chaos of the Heart, I hope you like it L&H ~BBB~))**

**Chapter 7: Capture**

Michael listened to the message on his cell phone and smirked before walking into his computer room and took a seat in front of the computer and accessed the GPS chip he had placed under the driver's seat of Kevin's car. Leaning back in his desk chair Michael's smirk grew wider as he sent the coordinates to a hand held GPS. As he left the house Michael climbed into his car and drove off quickly and headed north.

It was only an hour away; he would get there before Gwen and her cousin. He had a plan; it had been something that he had been working on for quite some time. It would all be over soon; when his plan ended it would end in his favor. Driving down the highway he kept one eye on the speedometer and the other on the radio clock.

The GPS device beeped when he was closer to his destination, turning up a dirt road he drove through the woods slowly. It took fifteen minutes to reach a crossroad one way was fenced off, the other curled around the mountain and continued north. Going up the road it took fifty-five minutes before he reached the end of the road, at the end road there was a large cave opening that looked to be quite old and an old cave or mine entrance.

Turning the car off Michael climbed out of the car and made his way slowly toward the entrance. As he got closer he noticed there was a shield up it wasn't powerful enough to keep people out of the cave but it was strong enough to jam some tracking signals. Michael prided himself on thinking that making the GPS stronger than any other would come in handy. He walked into the cave carefully and looked around. It took a lot for him to not smirk at how wonderful his plan was. The teen walked through the shield feeling only a slight tingle. Moving into the main chamber Michael spotted Kevin lying on a couch.

"Quite a set up you have here Levin, is that a Kintarian plasma cannon?" he asked walking over and looking a large cannon over. He was impressed that Kevin was able to get his hands on such weapons. "Hey you really are good at what you do aren't you, especially to get your hands on such great weapons. Too bad about the plumbers being after you…your name is all over the emergency watch channels." Michael said facing Kevin.

Kevin sat up and looked at the blonde "How did you find me?"He asked stalking toward the other teen. Michael smirked and held up a tracker. "I installed it under the driver's seat of your car… and before I arrived I gave an old friend of yours a call. He was pretty anxious to find you since you are a wanted man and considered armed. He was very grateful that you had been located so quickly." He said walking over to a workbench where the shield generator was.

"I always knew you were planning something evil, you could never be trusted, but it doesn't matter anymore you have everything now… isn't that right?" Kevin asked reaching over and absorbing the quartz that made up the wall of the cave.

Michael held his hands up "Hey I'm unarmed, I'm just here to talk…and you know your right I do have everything, money, power and I have the one thing you always wanted but failed to obtain… and all I had to do was show Gwen that someone cared and that you cared more about your car." He said moving closer to the workbench.

"Once your back in the Null Void for good I don't have to worry about Gwen thinking differently of you and running back to you if you return back home." Michael said as he reached over grabbed the conduit for the shield and surged his energy through it and shorted it out.

Kevin stood his ground as the blonde stood there staring at him. Both teens knew that if either one of them moved or started the attack it would be their downfalls. Kevin and Michael were equally matched. Michael smirked "You know he should be here real soon, I don't think you have any time to get away" Michael remarked as soon as he finished speaking a flash of light appeared next to Michael when the light disappeared a large alien was standing there wearing a plumber's uniform.

"You are a very hard criminal to catch Levin; I will be getting a high recommendation for bringing down someone who is has been selling illegal weapons to some of the most dangerous aliens in this quadrant." The alien said pulling a plasma gun and pointing it at Kevin. Michael stood there and created two orbs of energy in his hands. "Just give it up Levin you're done for if you try to stand up to Magister Ba-lel." Michael said keeping his eyes on Kevin.

Backing up slowly Kevin dove behind large wooden crates that were filled with plasma guns. He knew it was going to be crazy to hold his ground but he wasn't going back to the Null Void no matter what. Grabbing one of the guns from an opened crate that was lying on its side Kevin held it tightly. He wasn't scared, being in the Null Void for a few years had made him numb to most fear. Glancing around the corner of one of the crates Kevin was holding his breath.

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Gwen pulled to the side of the road and concentrated on Kevin's mana "He's very close… right up this road that leads into the mountain" Gwen said as she stepped on the gas and drove up the road till they came to the cave on the mountain. Gwen pulled up behind Michael's car and turned the car off.

Ben sat up and looked at the other car "What's Michael doing here? Maybe Kevin called him here for some one on one fight for you as the prize" Ben remarked as he climbed out of the car at the same time as Gwen. The red headed girl had a bad feeling; she ignored her cousin and headed toward the cave. Ben ran after Gwen as she entered the cave she saw the crates upon crates of weapons. Walking around the crates she walked into a large open area and saw Michael and a plumber standing there.

"Michael… where's Kevin?" Gwen asked as she looked around the vast cave looking for any signs of the older teen.

Michael turned and looked at his girlfriend "Gwen, it's not safe right now… I know you're going to say you can protect yourself but Kevin isn't in his right mind anymore." He said walking over to Gwen and putting his arm around her and pulling her close.

Kevin was glancing around the crate "Gwen get away from him, go on Morningstar…tell her how you tricked her into being with you." Kevin called from his hiding spot. He didn't want Gwen to be there where she could be hurt.

Gwen pulled away from her boyfriend and looked at Kevin from where he was hiding behind the crates on the other side of the cave. Moving across the cave Gwen stood in the center between everyone. Kevin stood up and looked at Gwen. "Kevin…I'm sure that whatever has happened can be worked out." she said taking a few steps forward toward her friend and the young man she cared about.

Lifting the gun up Kevin pointed it at the others in front of him "If I give up then I'm going to the Null Void and I'm not going back there." Kevin said. Gwen created a beam of mana and grabbed the gun and pulled it out of Kevin's hand and lifted it away from him and put it out of reach. Walking over to Kevin, Gwen threw her arms around him and hugged him. "It's going to be all right Kevin…" she said softly as she hugged her friend. Kevin wanted to stand there forever with Gwen.

Michael felt a wave of anger shoot through him. "No! I didn't work as hard as I did to keep you two apart for this to happen." He yelled at the top of his lungs. It took him a moment to realize that he had told everyone what he had done.

Gwen pulled away from Kevin and walked over to her boyfriend "You worthless rat" she said as she pulled her fist back and let it fly right into his jaw. By the time Michael hit the ground his lip was split and his nose was bleeding. He smirked as he looked up at the red head "I always knew I had a fire in you that I liked" he said as he got to his feet and took a step forward. Gwen let her mind fall into a martial arts mode. When she was finished with him Michael was laying on his back cringing in pain "We're over Michael" Gwen said reaching up and pulling the necklace off and throwing it on to the ground beside him.

Running over to Kevin Gwen hugged him again as he dropped his armor and held the girl of his dreams close. "You know Gwen I not going to let you go" Kevin said softly as he kept Gwen in his arms. "Even if I get sent into the void I'll still care for you and protect you." He added as he looked over Gwen's shoulder as Michael started to get up from the floor.

Ben moved over and stood in front of Michael "Hey Mike…back off, it's time for you go and never come back or do I have to let Humongousaur out to deal with you?" Ben asked keeping Kevin and Gwen behind him. Michael chuckled "No Ben its fine…I want to leave on good terms" he said walking off; when he was far enough away to be stopped he ran over to the Kintarian plasma cannon he had been admiring earlier and flipped the switch. "All's fair in love and war my lovely Gwen!" Mike yelled as he aimed the cannon at the ceiling and shot it at the rocks sending them toward Kevin and Gwen.

Kevin reacted without thinking and pushed Gwen out of the way as he was crushed by the falling rocks. Gwen sat up as the dust settled and started to tug on the heavy rocks as tears flowed from her eyes. "Ben, help me!" she yelled as her cousin and the Plumber helped to pull the boulders off Kevin. Gwen knelt down and looked at Kevin "Kevin, wake up…please… I'm sorry that I didn't tell you how I felt sooner" Gwen cried as she hugged Kevin. Kevin closed his eyes slowly.

"I never knew the only way I was going to hear you say that was to almost get killed… I'll have to remember that for next time" he said smirking as he opened his eyes and looking at Gwen and sitting up.

Gwen's facial expression changed as she looked at the older teen. She let go of Kevin and smacked him in the face. "You such a jerk Kevin" Gwen said looking away from him. The older teen smirked a bit and moved over. Reaching over he grabbed onto a stone and absorbed it. Getting up from the ground he looked down at Gwen "Stay there for a moment I have to take care of something... Hey Morningstar come here for a moment" Kevin said running over and punching the blonde in the jaw sending him sliding backward till he hit a wall. "That was for trying to hurt Gwen, this is for just being yourself" Kevin said punching the blonde once more before walking away and dropping his stone armor. He crossed the cave and walked over to Gwen and helped her to her feet.

"You know… I'm not really good at this, I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're not hurt and…" Kevin was cut off when Gwen grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him into a kiss. After a moment the shock wore off Kevin moved his arms around Gwen and held her close as they kissed. When they finally broke apart Gwen was blushing deeply. Kevin looked over Gwen's shoulder at the plumber watching them. He nodded his head and looked back at the girl in his arms. "I have to go now…" he said softly. Gwen grabbed onto Kevin's shirt and held onto it for a moment.

Kevin pulled his arms away and slowly pried Gwen's hands from his shirt and held them in his hands for a moment "I know we just found each other again…but if I don't go I'll be running forever from him and others like him" he added as he finally let go of Gwen's hands and backed away from her.

Ben looked at the plumber next to him "Isn't there some way you could forget you found him?" he asked looking at the alien. Kevin walked over to them "Ben it's all right… the punishment will be less serious if I turn myself over without a fight." Kevin said walking over to Ba-lel's side. Gwen ran over and stood beside Kevin "We've got to go now for your day in court" Ba-lel said putting his hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Wait can Ben and I come along, I mean Kevin you need support and it wouldn't hurt if someone spoke in your favor." Gwen said smiling a bit even though she was worried that she would never see Kevin again.

"You two go without me I've got some things to take care of and I'd just get in the way" Ben said as he made his way over to the unconscious blonde and stood guard over him. Michael Morningstar had a way of slipping out of trouble at the last minute and Ben was going to make sure that he didn't get away this time.

Ba-lel put his hand on Kevin's shoulder and led him and Gwen out of the cave to a designated spot for a transport pick-up location and waited for the ship. Once they were aboard Kevin began to stress out and pace as they traveled to the court where Kevin's fate would be placed in the hands of a judge. When they arrived paperwork was handed in and the waiting began.

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After an hour Kevin was standing before the judge shaking slightly but at the same time he was standing with his shoulders back. He was panicking as the judge looked down at him. He had the luck of being put in front of the judge who had already sent him to the Null Void once already.

"Kevin it's going to be all right" Gwen whispered to the other as she took his hand to keep him calm as Magister Ba-lel presented his case to the judge about why Kevin should be once again sent to the Null Void. Kevin swallowed hard when the judge looked at him with an intense gaze.

Gwen let go of her friend's hand and slowly walked up to the judge's bench and kept her hands at her sides. She knew how to play sweet and if she was lucky she could win the judge over. "Excuse me your honor, but could you please just let Kevin go, I know he did wrong but couldn't he go on some sort of probation instead of being sent back to the Null Void?" Gwen asked softly.

The judge looked down at Gwen "What is your name child?" Domstol locked his eyes with Gwen as she stood there.

"Gwen… Gwen Tennyson sir." She said standing her ground even though she was scared. She kept her head up and kept eye contact. The judge looked her over quickly "You're quite young so you must be an offspring of one of Max Tennyson's offspring, quite a good man and an even better plumber I knew him well. As for probation it seems reasonable, for the next two years young man you are going to be answering to Ms. Tennyson here. I have a feeling that she will keep you in line." Domstol said banging his gavel "You should keep in line Mr. Levin, you have one last chance to make things right or you're going to enter that void and never come out again. If I hear even one whisper that you are doing any kind of illegal trading I will use my full power to punish you, you're dismissed." The alien judge said waving the two off.

Kevin fell back so he was sitting on the floor; he put his head against his knees. In a matter of seconds he had been to the edge and back. He was almost a permanent resident of the Null Void and then his girlfriend saved him from his fate. When Gwen came over to him he looked up and smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am to not be going into the Null Void right now. I'll do anything you want to pay you back for this Gwen" he said pulling her into his arms and hugging her close.

Thinking for the longest moment Gwen smiled and stayed close to Kevin "Other than being my personal servant for a day I want you to take me on a normal date that has nothing to do with fighting any aliens or anybody you did a bad trade with. I mean it Kevin and I also want you to let me drive your car any time I want" she said pulling out of Kevin's arms and looking at him.

Kevin nodded his head "anything you want, now can we go home It's been a long day and I need to sleep" he said looking at the judge for a moment before leaving the room with Gwen and headed to the transport ship with her that would take them home. By the time they got on the ship it had been an hour of processing and paper pushing and getting his freedom back. When they got to their seats the ship was empty except for the crew. Kevin hopped into the seat and put his head back. He was asleep instantly.

Gwen reached over and pushed the few long strands of hair out of his eyes, in his two months of hiding he had let his hair grow out giving him an even more of an irresistible look, especially in Gwen's opinion. Sitting up a bit she watched him for a moment. She smirked as she leaned over, her hair falling a bit over her shoulder. "Kevin?" she whispered softly to tests if he was really sleeping. When he didn't respond she moved in closer for a quick kiss. Before her lips even brushed against his, Kevin opened his eyes and smirked.

"You know I am trying to sleep, but if you want to look at my face you can I mean I am really good looking so I can understand why you would want to stare at it all day" he said with a small yawn. Gwen smiled softly and looked at the older teen. "Get some sleep, we'll be home in a little while." She said softly as she moved a bit closer and let Kevin put his arm around her shoulder.

By the time they made it back to the drop off point it was a short hike back to the cave where they left Ben and Kevin's car. When they made it back into the cave Ben was foraging for food in the pantry. "Hey you two are back, finally I was starting to get bored… so what happened are you here to say goodbye or are you staying for good?" he asked looking at his friend. Ben knew the answer he just wanted to hear what happened.

Kevin smirked "As long as I'm not selling tech I'm a free man once again. Also Gwen is basically my keeper until I prove I'm not trading tech anymore." He said smirking and looking at the girl beside him. Gwen laughed "You also promised I could drive your car any time I wanted" she added. Ben closed his mouth before he asked his next question. Stretching his arms over his head Kevin made his way over to the couch and laid out on it.

Gwen walked over to the couch and sat on a well worn chair and pulled her legs under her as she looked at Kevin as he rested she smiled. Ben walked over and handed her a soda. "So how was it in an alien courtroom? How did you manage to keep Kevin from going into the void?" he asked taking a seat on the floor. Gwen smiled "I just told him my name, it turns out the judge knew Grandpa Max and because of that he let Kevin come home." Gwen said smiling as she looked over at Kevin as he snored and slept.

Ben smiled a bit and laughed "So you really saved him, so what are you going to make him to pay you back for saving his life?" He asked looking over at the red head. Gwen smiled "Oh that's my secret, you know Ben I was talking to Julie the other day and she said that you haven't taken her on a date in a while maybe we should double date." Gwen suggested. Ben smiled "Yeah that sounds like a good idea but are you sure Kevin will be able to stay awake during an entire date? He falls asleep at Julie's games" he said chuckling.

"You do realize I can hear you two" Kevin stated cracking his eyes open and looking over at the two cousins sitting close by. "Letting me sleep is one thing, I'm sure you two came in another car and I'm guessing the owner of the car doesn't know it's here so why don't you two head back and I'll catch up later" Kevin said with a smirk.

Gwen sat up more "Oh no you don't we're leaving together, I'm not letting you get influenced by everything here to start selling it again. We'll wait until your done resting and we'll follow you home back to Bellwood." She said sternly but with a playful look in her eye. Kevin gave a small sigh. "I'm hurt that you would think I would go back to a life of crime that quickly. I'm a changed man" he said with laugh.

Ben smirked "Where have we heard that before" he remarked laughing as Kevin rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at the teen sitting on the floor. "Just don't touch anything while I'm resting. A lot of this stuff was made before any of us were born." Kevin remarked as he put his head down on the arm of the couch so he could get some sleep for the trouble he would have to go through for running away.

-Epilogue-

_Dear Journal, _

_It's been three months, four weeks and six days since I busted for taking Ken's car without his permission and making him file a stolen car report because he never got my message that I was borrowing the car. Other than going to school I've been stuck in the house this whole time. Ben and Kevin have been dealing with small outcroppings of DN Aliens without any fuss. I'm so glad that my grounding is over. Now that I'm a free woman again Kevin has promised to take me on that date that I made him swear to when I kept him from the Null Void. We're going to double date with Ben and Julie on a small day trip. Kevin hasn't told us where we are going just that we are going to have a great time. Well I better go Kevin and the others are going to be here soon. _

Gwen shut the journal and tossed it into her desk drawer before grabbing her duffle bag and running down the stairs just at the door bell rang. Pulling the door open Kevin was standing there, his semi-new hair style fluttering just slightly. The new look always made Gwen go a little weak in the knees. Looking at his car Ben and Julie were waiting in the back seat. Saying goodbye to her parents Gwen followed Kevin to the car where he held the door open for her.

"We don't want to be late for our surprise day trip, trust me I'm sure this is going to be one of the best ever. I have a friend that owes me a favor." He said as she closed the door after Gwen climbed into her seat. Ben chuckled but stopped when Julie elbowed him a bit "Ben… Kevin's trying really hard so, don't you laugh or make any jokes." Julie hissed as Kevin climbed into the car and started the engine "All right here we go…" Kevin said as he pulled off down the street.

Kevin drove out of town and headed east he knew where he was going and he knew it was a place that would impress Gwen even though she was already impressed with him he knew it couldn't hurt to make sure of it after three months of not really being able to see each other except for the occasional time he stopped by her school during the day or when he drove her home when she told her parents she walked. "Hey Ben… I've been meaning to ask you what did you ever do with Morningstar after Kevin and I went to court?" Gwen asked as she turned around in her seat to look at her cousin.

"Oh you know him he managed to slip out of the cave when I looked away for a moment; I bet he's off somewhere plotting out downfall or trying to think of some type of revenge." Ben said shrugging his shoulders. Julie looked at Ben "I thought you told me he blindsided you with an old frying pan and got away?" she asked with a smirk since she had been just kidding. Gwen smiled she was glad that she was back where she belonged with her friends.

Gwen glanced over at Kevin and watched him as he kept his eyes on the road even though he occasionally glanced over at her and smiled at her.

"Kevin where are we going?" she asked looking at him with smiled on her lips. Kevin smirked which made him look even more irresistible. "Now it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you guys where we were going. So just sit back and relax we'll be there in two hours and then we have all day so don't worry" he said looking back at the road.

**Thanks everyone for reading, this isn't the end there is a sequel… hopefully…it's about the date and more hopefully. I just don't really know when yet. Glad you loved the story as much as I loved writing it **

**~Hugs and Love ~**

**BunBun Babe**


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